Kerry Co-Operative Creameries has this afternoon (Thursday, December 14) announced the election of Kerry native, James Tangney who farms in Limerick, as chairman of Kerry Co-Op.
Tangney, who had been a member of the co-op’s board succeeds Kerry dairy and sheep farmer, Denis Carroll who had held the position for the past two years.
He has previously run for the chairperson position but had lost out in that instance to Carroll.
Following today’s board meeting, Lorraine Mulvihill has been appointed company secretary.
Kerry Co-op is the largest shareholder in Kerry Group Plc.
It describes itself as representing the views and interests of all of its shareholders and works closely with Kerry Group on behalf of its milk supplying shareholders.
The co-op is led by its elected board of 19 directors. Board members are elected from the nine electoral areas across Kerry, Clare, Cork and Limerick.
Each electoral area has an advisory committee which meet four times throughout the year. The number of members on each advisory committee is determined by the number of shareholders in each area.
This is reviewed every five years. The members of the board of directors are then elected from each advisory committee to represent their electoral area within Kerry Co-op.
The number of directors from each electoral area is also determined by the number of shareholders within each.
Kerry Co-op advisor
Earlier this year, the board of Kerry Co-op appointed Jim Woulfe as an advisor to the board.
The former Dairygold chief executive has been working with the board as it examines the structure of Kerry Co-op and develops a future strategy.
Woulfe has over 40 years’ experience in the Irish dairy industry in various senior management roles and is currently a board member of Enterprise Ireland and Bord Bia, along with Mercy University Hospital and Fota Wildlife Park.
He has also held board advisory positions with Cork Airport and the National Competitiveness and Productivity Council (NCPC).